There are two stories here and only one is being reported. The first story is that Indonesian Muslims have been praying in the wrong direction. Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia during prayer and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world’s most populous Muslim country. “But it has been decided that actually the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we… Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Dear Richard, I am sure you have probably heard this question before, but I’m new to your advice column and hope you could help me. For over six years I have been dating a wonderful man who I love with all my heart. He is everything I’ve wanted in a potential husband, and I know he loves me deeply. We’ve both been through previous marriages and both understand the importance… Read more
Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great and Hitch-22, appeared on the Hugh Hewitt show late last week to talk about his memoir and his health. HH: Now Christopher, since we last spoke, your illness you disclosed on the web, and people will want to know off the bat how you are doing, and how your treatment is going. CH: Oh well, I have, in case people are just tuning in, I have cancer in my esophagus, which has… Read more
I received an email from someone who had a few questions for atheists who work in the business world. I’m purposely not mentioning others details from the email, but I think the questions can stand alone, and I’m especially curious how atheists would respond to 2, 4 and 5. 1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees? 2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties? 3. What is your view of the… Read more
Gizmodo hypes science-free lightbulbs: The commenters there are not too happy with it. I get the underlying message of the picture: The lightbulb won’t turn on until you ditch faith. Yep. That’s gotta be it. Do you have a better explanation? Side note: I’m amused by the name of the Gizmodo contributor who posted that. (Thanks to Travis for the link!) Read more
The Metro State Atheists in Colorado are running their annual Food for Freethought event September 28th-30th. How does it work? You give them non-perishable foods (which will be donated), and they’ll give you a banned book! How can you help? Donate money to the cause. Donate books for the cause. The event takes place at the Auraria Campus in Denver, and it’s a win/win for everyone involved, so please consider being a part of it! Read more
Mike Jones is the former male escort and personal trainer who exposed Ted Haggard’s hypocrisy years ago. He did an interview for this site a while back. Last week, another pastor, Kevin J. Gray, was found to have embezzled over $1,000,000 from his church to pay for, among other things, male prostitutes. Jones wrote a piece for The Daily Beast where he answers the question of Why Priests Hire Male Prostitutes: During the 1990s, when I worked as an escort… Read more
Well, after that horrendous Nightline segment aired, you knew FOX News would have something to say about it. They didn’t disappoint. They just took their favorite part of the segment and sensationalized it in the headline: Anyone surprised? R. Joseph Hoffmann didn’t like the Nightline segment, either: My complaint? Bad religion needs better satire. Unbelief needs better spokesmen. The cultic aspects of the New Atheism become more evident every day. Because only in cults does everyone laugh at the same… Read more
Mark Johnston’s group in Texas, the Frisco Atheists, runs an interesting series of events: they meet with local pastors to show them that atheists are part of their community. The Frisco Atheists occasionally meet with local pastors to help them to become aware that some of their neighbors are atheists and to give local atheists a chance to be completely honest about their beliefs in a non-threatening environment. We call the events “Meet-the-Pastor” and we usually have a 50-50 mix… Read more
***Update***: You all were right. I was wrong. I had no idea using stock photography was such an accepted thing. I didn’t want to delete the posting and the comments with it — I thought that would be dishonest — so I’ll just keep it here, with this apology up front. Feel free to disregard this posting. … The National Organization for Marriage has been touring the country in a bus, peddling its anti-gay agenda. As one blogger points out,… Read more
